Page 23 - 0319

Brazilians is huge in Florida,” says Silva. Before Seabra opens a new store, it determines the ethnic food needs of its communities.“Florida gives us an opportunity to cater to the customers who are either visiting or living in Florida from New Jersey, and who want the same foods and traditions,” says Silva.
The shoppers Seabra Foods serves are highly traditional people steeped in their cultures and the traditions they enjoyed when they were young.The produce and other products found in the Seabra Foods stores remind them of being back home, where they were more self-suffi- cient. In their native countries, Seabra Foods’ customers grew in their backyards many of the items they see in the stores, such as tomatoes. “They have these traditions embedded in their cultures,” says Silva. “Seeing those products makes them feel good. It’s a very warm-natured type culture.”
Popular produce items found in Seabra Foods’ aisles include a variety of bananas, yellow and green plantains, bread fruit, dragon fruit and many tropicals. Roots are big sellers as well as collard greens, broccoli rabe, turnips, cranberry or flat beans, boniato sweet potatoes and Portuguese chestnuts.“These are very vege- table-minded people who like [our selection],” says Silva of the clientele.
Seabra offers overwraps of store-cut produce on items difficult to cut at home.Those include butternut squash and fairytale pumpkins, also known as cheese pumpkins, which the Portu- guese use to make sweets.
The store constructs large displays packed with produce. Multiple displays are erected throughout Seabra Foods, including cross promotions tying cheese with apples, garlic with avocados and onions for guacamole, and soup greens adjacent to soup meat. Situating carrots, celery, parsley and turnips next to chicken and other meats provides shoppers ideas for purchasing produce to prepare fresh- made soups. “We make big displays merchan- dising the product that is in season,” notes Silva.
SIGNAGE SCREAMS FRESH
Signage calls out the items, including frusel figo torres, or figs, white turnip, red beans and fryer peppers. In its signs, Seabra Foods tries to be as explicit as possible, informing its customers of the items they’re viewing and providing preparation instructions and infor- mation including product origin, its three- times-per-week arrivals and health benefits.
Creating eye-catching displays is important for Seabra Foods’ success. Color breaks make for inviting displays, which move product. “Every- thing has to be color-coordinated and shocking
Participants in the 2018 New York Produce Show retail tours visit one of Seabra Foods Supermarket’s Newark, NJ, stores.
when you look at it,” says Silva. Carrots are placed between collard greens while limes offset the dominant orange hue.
Seabra’s promotions include weekly ad circulars mailed to customers in surrounding communities, along with feeding consumers information on its own cable television channel — Global Media.
Its pricing philosophy is to provide shoppers the best quality product at competitive prices. Keeping up with the competition remains crucial.“We always say our competition really starts within,” says Silva. “You have to realize what you’re doing, making sure you’re taking care of the customers and that your product is right before you start worrying about anyone else on the outside. If you don’t do things right inside, sometimes, you are your worst enemy.”
FOODIES AS EMPLOYEES
Employee training is also critical. Seabra Foods likes to hire people who are foodies, those who enjoy eating and talking about food.“Our produce department personalities are derived from training,” explains Silva. “When people are comfortable, they’re OK with talking about what they’re selling.”
The stores’ training involves not only educating people about the quality of the stores’ products, but where they originate, how to prepare them and how to taste and enjoy them. “Obviously, you have to have people who like other people and like to talk about what they’re selling,” he says. “You have to be enthusiastically involved in what you’re selling. It doesn’t work if they aren’t.”
Indicative of local produce’s importance, Seabra Foods is heavily involved in Jersey Grown promotions. Produce grown in the
states it operates in — as well as Upstate New York apples, potatoes and onions — are heavily promoted as local products. “We push local,” says Silva.“We are very supportive of our local areas.”
Seabra Foods also markets a line of organic produce, which constitutes 50 to 75 SKUs. The category is increasing, says Silva.
In 1967, Americo Seabra and Maria Seabra immigrated to the U.S. from Portugal. In 1972, the couple started a 1,110-square-foot store on Ferry Street in Newark that sold groceries and foods appealing to the area’s large Portuguese population.
Over the years, A&J Seabra Supermarkets, as they were called, expanded locations, and in 2015, were rebranded as Seabra Foods Super- markets by the Seabra Group, the chain’s parent company. Antonio Seabra, the chain’s president and owner, took over operations when his father, Americo Seabra, died in 2012. Maria Seabra passed away in 2018.
Silva joined Seabra Foods in 2015. He previously ran a gourmet foods business in nearby Vernon, NJ, and was general manager at a Franklin Lakes, NJ, gourmet store.
“Everything is about creativity with produce,” says Silva. “You can do so much. The whole thing is creative displaying, which is important in produce.” pb
FACT FILE:
Seabra Foods Supermarket
839 W Sample Rd.
Deerfield Beach, FL, 33064
P: (954) 783-9895
Hours: Mon – Sun 7:00 am to 10 pm; www.seabrafoods.com
PRODUCE BUSINESS / MARCH 2019 / 23